Bishop Howard Hubbard, who recently contracted a civil marriage with “a wonderful woman who has helped and cared for me and who believes in me,” has died of a stroke. The civil marriage had resulted in his automatic suspension under canon law.
The prelate, who was accused of sexually abusing nine boys, was bishop of Albany (NY) from 1977 to 2014. He was the subject of a Vatican investigation and numerous abuse suits.
Praised in 2015 by Father James Martin, SJ, as “another of my heroes,” Bishop Hubbard was the subject of “Agony in Albany,” a 1991 series in The Wanderer that chronicled dissent from Catholic teaching among diocesan officials.